Chamisa says MDC unity deal possible
By Lance Guma
A spokesman for the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has not ruled out the chances of a unity deal with the smaller faction of the party led by the newly elected Welshman Ncube.
Speaking on SW Radio Africa’s Question Time programme, MDC-T spokesman Nelson Chamisa said they “had the appetite for working together” with their former colleagues but it had to be “a coalition of the willing.”
Responding to listeners questions on why they are not trying to unite the two parties ahead of elections, Chamisa said “we have always emphasised as a party that unity pays. Unity gives us the profit we would want politically. Unity is ultimately going to be the winning political formula in this country.” The problem, he said, was a difference of opinion on strategy and political destination.
“We do not want a situation where you have certain people indicating left while others are turning right. There has to be consistency of not just message but political strategy, beliefs and political destination. And I am sorry to say if you judge the character of our colleagues it would appear they are quite remote from our thinking and from the way we see things,” Chamisa told the programme.
Asked if it was not possible to bury their differences temporarily until after the elections, he said: “We can’t just have a donkey and a horse, when in fact it will lead to a retardation of the momentum.” He said a deal was possible if they could agree on a set of objectives and how to achieve them.
On replacing Arthur Mutambara as leader of the MDC-M, Welshman Ncube launched an astonishing attack on the MDC-T calling them ‘pseudo democrats’ and ‘hypocrites’. He went further to say ‘we refuse to be intimidated, we refuse to be cowed by your lies and your head mentality even if you are supported by your friends in the media.’
Any unity deal will have to overcome this political sniping. SW Radio Africa
To listen to the full interview with Nelson Chamisa on Question Time: Click Here
